Monday, October 28, 2019

Week 65 - Gap, Guns, & General Authorities


September 9, 2019

Hi again! This week was such an empowering and spirtual week. So I apologize in advance for the long email filled with so many details. We were privileged to have Elder Gay, from the quorm of the 70 join us at church on Sunday as well as a missionary focused meeting on Sunday night with 2 other general authorities. I learned so many great things and felt the spirit so strongly. As we started singing "we'll bring the world his truth" I started crying due to the fact that I was so overwhelmed with love for this gospel, for this work, but most importantly for my savior. My mission seems to just be flying by and it makes me so sad to know I will be leaving this beautiful place behind soon. 

Lots of little exciting things about this week: 
-I GOT MY BOOT OFF!! Don't worry, still reppin those tennis shoes with dresses. 
-I got to see a few of my dearest people this week from previous areas and that always makes my heart so joyful. I love Christine and Gail 💛
- Bruce from Marlborough got baptized!! I'm sure you all miss the phrase of the week from Bruce. Don't worry I have one this week! I FaceTimed him to say congrats and I asked if he was nervous and he said, "no. I just hope there are no sharks in the water" he always makes me laugh. 
-I got to go on splits with Sister Mavromatis (mission presidents wife) this week and it was so good spending time with her, our mission is beyond blessed 💛 
-on a crazy note, we were at church in a meeting and someone opens the door and is super panicked. Well, apparently there was a guy outside walking around with a gun. Don't worry, about 10 cops showed up, they caught him, and everyone was safe. Welcome to Boston folks👋


Few updates on the work: 
-the Chinese elders passed off this guy named Jeff and he is super super solid. Our lesson with him this week was so incredible. Something I love about the way they found him is he would sit in Dunkin Doughnuts almost everyday, working on his computer. Well, day after day he would see the elders walk past and he would watch them very closely. Finally he decided he was gonna stop them to see what they were all about. Well lo and behold, he found exactly what he was looking for! Him and his daughter are literally THEEE elect. 
- We started teaching this lady names Abolaji who has 4 adrobale kids. We were supposed to see her again this week but when we showed up for the appointment she bailed on us which is always a bad sign especially because she was home!! We were super sad but decided hey let's give her a call and invite her to church. She ended up coming to church, bringing 2 of her kids, and afterwards said that she loves this place so much and loves all the people and wants to come back every week!! It's so incredible to see that she fit right in and felt at home. 
- We are also teaching this guy Ronald who is a very smart and intelligent man. He was a doctor and now teaches a compative religion class so he knows A LOT. He came to church yesterday and got to individually meet Elder Gay and President Raulins (stake president) and was in tears after their conversation. Ronald came up to us after and said "ill be back, it's a wonderful place". 
-So we had a super cool miracle I wanted to share. The other day we were going to see Zainab at work and got off at downtown. We saw that the clothing store GAP was having an incredible sale and lately everyone we have been complimenting had gotten there clothes from GAP. So we decided to journey in, but made a deal that we had to share the gospel with one person. We start looking around and we see this lady with her daughter and compliment her on her head wrap. About 2 hours later we saw her at the train station again and she came and stood by us but we didn't talk to her.. THEN we were on the bus ride home and guess who sat by us... this same woman, Nicolett!!! We started talking with her and she said she hasn't found a church since moving here and would be interested in coming. As we were explaining our church service this guy standing up was listening and chimed in and said, "I've been looking for a church too, somewhere that I can bring my 2 little girls!" Needless to say, God can work in mysterious ways and use the most random things to help us find those who need the gospel. We are meeting with both of them this week🤞
- We started off Friday with one of the best lessons of my mission with Gladys. As we taught her about temples and family history the spirit was so strong. Sadly, that night ended with the worst lesson of my entire mission. We went and taught 4 7th day Adventist. As we bore testimony about Joseph Smith experience in the Sacred Grove, and said, "we know that this took place" when we were stopped and questioned with "you don't know. You don't have facts that prove this. You can't know, you can only believe" I was so frustrated. All I wanted was to bear testimony of the experience that changed my life. As we continued on the one guy kept pulling out bible verses and trying to prove to us that we had it all wrong. I have never felt so inadequate before and really had to question whether or not I knew my message was true. Through it all, I discovered that sometimes we have to question things in order to have the truth of it solidified to us. I learned a valuable lesson that night, people are always gonna tear you down and tell you that you're wrong but the number one thing you have to rely on is your feelings.
-Satan is also the worst, we had about 5 other people committed to coming to church, they all confirmed, we had some rides figured out, everything was all set! Well from Saturday night to Sunday morning the adversary worked very hard. Our dear friend Nancy went to the hospital so her husband and daughters couldn't come. Our friend Donna couldn't breath and got put on a nebulizer and Gladys potassium levels sky rocketed and was throwing up all night. WHY DOES SATAN DO THIS!?!  It really shows this is the Lords work and his church and Satan doesn't want them to find that out for themselves. 

Anyway I've rambled on and on. Today we get to go tour Fenway park and go to the aquarium so I'm super excited. I KNOW this Christ's church on the earth today. I know that God loves each of you and has blessings he is waiting to pour out upon you in his own timetable. Be patient and trust in his plan for you. 

I LOVE THIS WORK. I am SO happy that I am still out here representing our precious savior. Always remember we were saved for these days and we are apart of "the finest team" as President Nelson said it. You are enough and you have a role to play in this life. GOD NEEDS YOU! 
I love you all. Keep on keepin on💛

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